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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Taking it Easy & Staying Healthy

It’s really been quite a good week. Since I last posted, I volunteered for the Muddy Paws 2/5/10 Mile Trail Run on Saturday. The 2-mile option was run with the runners’ dogs and everyone else had the 5 or 10 mile option. The event supported the Summit County Humane Society located on Quick Rd….which was just down the road from the race at Pine Hollow. A record turnout and great weather resulted in a really fun time on the trails. Greg D. ran the first water stop and I ran the 2nd stop. I always find it humorous to watch people take their first sip of Hammer’s Heed. One would expect a Gatorade-type of taste but instead get something that tastes similar to dental wash you get at the dentist. But like I say, it’s something you get used to over time. A fine trade-off in order to get something all-natural without the junk in Gatorade and other high-fructose corn-syrup products. If you’re running the BT50K or BR100, Heed will be served! Yea! Chef Bill and I met at 5am for some early miles but quickly learned that the sun no longer rises that early so we walked for the first 20min on the Salt Run Trail. Afterwards, we ran the course to pick up pie plate arrows, streamers, and any trash. Runners really took care of the trails during the event….there was very little trash. THANK YOU!

Saturday was my deep tissue massage by Lori. I think I actually fell asleep for the first time during a massage. How embarrassing! Heck, I’d been up since 3:15am! Lori is running a “Buy 5, Get the 6th Free” special right now so I took advantage of that…considering I’ll see her next week and then again immediately after Burning River. Her contact info is in my last blog entry down below if you want to give her a call or you could e-mail her.

Plan of Attack for the next 17 days:1. So far this week, I’m in a semi-taper to the 50K this Saturday. I ran 9 on Sunday, 6.8 on Monday, off Tuesday, 7 this morning, 5 tomorrow, off on Friday, then 31.2 (ie: 50K) on Saturday. I plan to just have a good time on Saturday, run conservatively, and enjoy Chef Bill’s post-race grub at the finish line. Just about everyone I know in the NE Ohio running community is signed up for this sold-out event this year.2. Following the 50K, I’ll be in strict taper mode to the BR100. Run no more than 7 or 8 miles during the weekday runs next week. Nothing hard and no racing. 12 miles on Saturday.3. In the final week, I’ll back way off and run 5 on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, off Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, off Friday, run 100 miles on Saturday and Sunday!4. From Tuesday – Friday before BR100, I’ll take Endurolytes (salt tabs) morning and night (recommended by Vince), carbo-load, and do my best to get 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

Overall, my outlook is positive. I feel that yes, I missed some runs that I felt very important NOT to miss. However, it wasn’t because of lack of effort. Physical ailments presented themselves with no warning and I just needed to work around them and through them the best way I could. Mentally, I feel very strong and ready to tackle the 100 miles. I feel like I have an army of friends (that includes many of YOU who are reading this!) and family who have been and continue to be supportive. I will draw on that to push on through when the time comes! Thank you!

2 comments:

Good luck and have fun at BT50 this weekend! I am running a 12 hour race in WV, otherwise I would be up volunteering at BT.If I don't get a chance, I will be captaining the Aid Station at Mile 70, at Happy Days Aid Station, be sure to give me a shoutout, I will be looking for you to be passing through my AS quickly!